1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to networking fabrics, and more particularly to Fibre Channel over Ethernet fabrics.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) is a developing standard to enable Fibre Channel operations over an Ethernet network. Many uses of an FCoE fabric will be to connect to existing Fibre Channel fabrics. The interface between the Fibre Channel over Ethernet fabric and the Fibre Channel fabric is a device called the FCoE Forwarder (FCF).
One restriction of Fibre Channel is a 239 Domain_ID limitation. In conventional Fibre Channel operation each switch consumes a Domain_ID. Many of the perceived implementations of FCoE networks have each FCF assigned a unique Domain_ID. The concern is that the sheer number of these devices when installed both top of rack (TOR) and end of row (EOR) will result in Domain_ID exhaustion. This Domain_ID exhaustion could create difficulties in both the existing Fibre Channel fabric and in the FCoE fabric. Therefore a solution to the potential large number of Domain_IDs in an FCoE environment is desirable.
One proposed solution was the creation of switches in the FCoE fabric that have capabilities beyond that of a simple Ethernet switch. These switches are called FCoE data forwarders (FDF). The proposed solution had FDFs connecting between the nodes, referred to as ENodes in FCoE, and an FCF. The ENodes would be connected to FDFs, which in turn connected to an FCF. The proposed solution had the FCoE fabric that resulted being a part of the domain of the FCF. While this did address the Domain_ID exhaustion issue, it resulted in other issues relating to failover, multipathing and the like. A solution that alleviates Domain_ID exhaustion while also providing failover, multipathing, and other characteristics common in an FC SAN is desired.